


The Trials and Tribulations of a Vigilante Chief of Staff

by Ray_Writes



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 04, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Lauriver - Freeform, F/M, No Samantha or William Clayton, We Do Not Approve Whitewashing in This House, contains lots of mentions of Olicity but not for those fans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29831073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: Constantine gives Esrin Fortuna’s name to Oliver after his visit to Starling City instead of waiting, and it causes a series of cascading revelations for the people in Thea’s life.
Relationships: Laurel Lance & Oliver Queen & Thea Queen, Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen, Oliver Queen & Thea Queen
Comments: 17
Kudos: 32





	The Trials and Tribulations of a Vigilante Chief of Staff

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! This started because it occurred to me that it was dumb Constantine didn’t send Oliver to Esrin right away and of waiting until somebody died instead. Then it sort of snowballed into something bigger, all told from Thea’s POV. It was definitely a fun exercise staying in one POV the whole story, and an outside one at that in some ways. As the tags say, in this AU, William and Samantha Clayton do not exist as I don’t feel like dealing with whitewashed Olicity drama.
> 
> Many thanks to Nyame for beta-reading and suggesting the title. Thanks as well to you all for reading, and I would love to know what people think!

Before he had left, John Constantine had given Ollie a name to go see someone in Hub Ciry who knew more about magic since he was too scared to stick around and fight Darhk himself. So for the next two nights, Thea’s brother and Felicity took a trip to go see the mysterious Esrin Fortuna while she, Laurel and John kept watch over the city back home. It was almost like old times during the summer, and luckily they didn’t run into Darhk in the meantime.

They were all in pretty high spirits. John was less of a grump thanks to him and Oliver having managed to work together while she and Laurel had been out of town; Laurel was practically over the moon with happiness these days since she had a sister to go home to at night; Thea was just relieved to have Sara back with them and at least one of her kills — and the one she was most remorseful for — rectified. They all looked forward to hearing more about a solution to fighting Darhk in the field once Oliver and Felicity returned.

Which was why when they did return, it was a real disappointment.

“What do you mean, she sent you away?” Just how busy was an immortal lady anyway?

“The training didn’t work,” Oliver explained, his tone embarrassed, his eyes on the ground. “Esrin says there’s… there’s too much darkness in me to harness Light Magic against Darhk.”

“That can’t be right,” Laurel insisted.

“Oh, I was there. Trust me, it didn’t go well,” Felicity remarked. Beside her, Oliver grimaced.

“So we’re back to square one,” John summarized.

“Yeah,” Oliver replied, his tone clipped.

They were at worse than square one. If they couldn’t counter Darhk’s magic, none of them could fight him. They’d never win.

“Is there another sorcerer lady maybe?” Thea tried.

“Not one I know of.”

“Then you’ll have to just train another way,” Laurel decided. “You don’t have to listen to her just because she doesn’t want to teach you. She did at least a couple exercises, right?”

“Right, but I don’t know how to do them by myself.”

“Then we will figure it out,” Laurel decided. “We fought off the darkness in Sara’s soul, and we can do it with yours. You just have to believe in yourself, believe us.” She looked back at them, and Thea nodded readily in support.

“You’ve got this.”

John was a little slower, but eventually he said, “I’ve watched you face impossible odds before, Oliver. No reason you can’t do it again.”

“Yeah, we can all help,” Felicity added. She placed a hand to Oliver’s cheek and guided him to look at her. “Esrin said that Light Magic is powered by positive emotions, and when have you ever been happier?”

He bent to meet her in a kiss. Thea rolled her eyes and turned to Laurel to stick her tongue out in playful mockery, but Laurel was still watching her brother and Felicity, smile frozen on her face. She averted her eyes a moment later, and Thea’s face went slack.

Everyone started moving towards the suits, though, so there wasn’t much she could do but follow.

—

Apparently, training Light Magic by yourself was a  _ lot _ harder than they’d all made it sound.

They all figured Oliver should devote at least some of their time down in the base training by meditating and trying to unlock this power Constantine’s tattoo supposedly gave him. Thea could tell by about the second day it wasn’t really getting him much of anywhere.

They all did their best to offer advice, Felicity the most frequently, though it seemed to cause the couple to snap at each other more often than not.

“My love, I would really be much happier if you were to  _ not _ die the next time you face Darhk in the field, so maybe try focusing on that.”

“I  _ am _ trying.”

“Alright, well I’m not sure where to go from here if my very genuine concern for your well-being isn’t enough—”

“This is hopeless,” her brother muttered.

“And there he goes, giving up,” Felicity seemed to say to the room at large.

Oliver looked up. “You just said—”

“I am trying to motivate you! Like always!” Felicity’s phone beeped, and she sighed. “Hang on, Curtis needs me to look at something. I have to go.” She grabbed her things and left in the elevator.

Oliver hung his head as the doors shut. John glanced at him once before shaking his own head and continuing to clean his guns. Thea and Laurel exchanged a look, having taken a water break between sparring that had stretched out longer than necessary due to the quarrel they’d witnessed. With a bit of a shrug, Laurel left the mat and approached Thea’s brother.

“Hey, I know it’s frustrating, but I’m sure Felicity was just trying to encourage you.”

“I know. There’s just… nothing there to encourage, I guess.”

“That’s not true,” Laurel said, her tone perfectly calm. “You are a good person, Oliver. Someone who had nothing but darkness in his soul would not go out every night stopping crime and saving people. He wouldn’t be risking his life trying to stop Darhk.” She touched his shoulder and waited for Ollie to lift his gaze to meet her eyes. “Maybe instead of worrying about what could go wrong out there, focus on the times things have gone right and how you felt then.”

“Okay,” he agreed. Laurel moved back, and Oliver sat back down on the meditation mat he’d been using. They all watched him breathe in and out a few times, seeming to center himself. There was a moment where he posture seemed to straighten in just a certain way, and then his eyes opened, a bright golden light shining out of them.

“Woah!”

Her brother startled, blinking, and his eyes were blue when he looked at her. “What?”

“Sorry.” Thea cringed; she hadn’t meant to take him out of the zone. “Just, something was definitely happening.”

“Did you feel it?” Laurel asked.

“Yeah, I did.” Ollie smiled to himself, then looked up at Laurel. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” she told him. Neither seemed about to look away from the other, not at least until John cleared his throat.

Re-energized, they all took to the streets for a night of patrol.

Oliver’s success was short-lived. Felicity started keeping late hours at Palmer Tech, then revealed that she’d been working on a way to save her tiny ex-boyfriend from Darhk. There was some kind of argument involving Felicity’s mother as well, which Thea had to listen to through the comms chatter. The next time they faced Darhk, it had come down to the Flash saving their lives and then whisking them off to fight another immortal with a magic staff.

And finally, they got to see Oliver’s new ability in action.

They had met up with Laurel in Central since she’d been visiting her mother and arranged a meeting with the man named Vandal Savage in order to ambush him to prevent him from killing the hawk people. Thea couldn’t make this stuff up if she tried. She, Laurel and John had waited in the van until their opening, then charged out into the fray.

Savage was good, swinging the staff like a weapon and forcing them to dodge blasts of energy directed out of the one end of it. Kendra managed to snatch it from his grip, and Laurel went in for a couple punches. Savage had grabbed a knife from his coat, only for Oliver to step forward, eyes glowing, hand outstretched with some kind of  _ pulse _ leaving it, knocking Savage back. The man quickly flipped back onto his feet and charged.

“Ollie, I’ve got the staff!” Barry had shouted. Her brother had grabbed on as well, and together the two reduced Savage to a mere pile of ash. Considering how long he’d lived and the number of people he’d killed already, Thea wouldn’t mourn him.

“Okay, we did it!” Barry declared, a little breathless. “Hey, how’d you push him earlier? I didn’t even see you touch him.”

“Uh…” her brother didn’t quite seem to know how to explain.

“It’s just a little something he’s been working on,” Thea drawled, coming up to him and nudging him in the side.

“And I for one am glad to know that immortal sorcerers can be wrong,” Laurel added, just a touch smug.

“I guess they can be,” Oliver agreed, a small smile curving his lips.

“Well, it cost Savage for sure,” Barry agreed, blissfully unaware of what they were really talking about. He turned to address Kendra and Carter, and they all regrouped back at the house.

“Wait, so how did you do it?” Felicity asked once they were all in the van on the drive back to Starling the next morning. John was driving and Laurel had taken shotgun to give Oliver and Felicity the backseat which Thea was sharing. “I mean, you weren’t practicing out in the field were you?”

“I hope not,” John quipped.

“I wasn’t,” Oliver told them both. Sandwiched between his girlfriend and Thea, he seemed to not quite know who to look at as he explained. “I just knew I wanted him to back off before he did anything to hurt, uh, anyone.”

“Well, there’s my hero,” Felicity said sweetly.

Thea sat back in her seat, deciding to watch the scenery go by instead. And wonder why Oliver just hadn’t said what he’d meant; he’d been stopping Savage from hurting Laurel, not just anyone.

Still, she supposed it wasn’t a huge deal. If Oliver managed to use this Light Magic ability to stop Darhk, he would be saving any number of people from whatever the man was planning. Who knew? Maybe they’d even stop the bad guys before May.

—

She’d had to open her mouth.

Thea supposed she should’ve expected something around the holidays. After all, Darhk had attacked their clean-up event down by the bay with a drone. But still, couldn’t it have waited? Oliver had only just proposed, they were trying to bring the city together for Peace on Earth and all that. Being stuck in a gas chamber was  _ not _ how she’d wanted this kind of night to end.

They’d either started pumping gas in or sucking the air out, she wasn’t sure which. All Thea knew was that she and John and Felicity were all coughing, and she couldn’t find air. Her legs gave out, and all she could hear was the thumping of Oliver’s fist on the glass and a distant scream.

Wait. She  _ knew _ that scream.

The glass shattered under the stroke of Laurel’s baton, though it was Ollie wielding it, and they all staggered out or were half-carried. Then, eyes glowing, her brother chased down Darhk.

It would’ve been funny if they hadn’t all nearly died. The sorcerer was completely surprised by Oliver’s countering his magic, and he’d apparently allowed his League training to lapse, fighting less like a former candidate to become Ra’s and more like a street brawler. Laurel and Malcolm protected them from the rest of the Ghosts while Oliver delivered a final strike with the baton that had Darhk flat on his back. Then they called in ARGUS, since the man knew a little too much of what they were all capable of now.

Back at the base, they regrouped just the five of them since her biological father had disappeared in all the chaos, though Oliver’s suit was left behind on its mannequin. “I’ll have to thank him,” her brother noted.

“I helped out a little bit, too,” Laurel teased, sliding up to Ollie’s side.

He ducked his head when he looked at her, almost guilty as he responded, “Yes, you did.” Her returning smile was as bright as Thea could ever remember it being.

“Well I, for one, am exhausted,” Felicity announced, standing from her chair, “so I think we should be getting home.”

Oliver started in place. “Right.” He quickly went to grab Felicity’s coat and helped her into it, then left the base. It was like something was bothering him, but what? They’d succeeded, and Darhk was put away. His poll numbers were only going to see a bump from this, and that was in addition to the bump they’d get from the filmed proposal at the tree ceremony.

Yet Oliver still seemed subdued the next morning when they met in his office for a closed campaign discussion sans Alex.

“So, coming up with a statement that doesn’t involve us being vigilantes, a covert government organization or the fact that everyone’s favorite mayoral candidate is a self-taught magician,” Thea began. “What have we got? Ollie?” She prompted when her brother continued to stare into space.

“Hm?”

“Your statement about the hostage situation and Darhk being captured?”

“Right. Uh… he was wanted by the federal government for unrelated investigations and it’s been taken over by their people? I’m very glad my friends and family are safe.”

“And your fiancée,” Thea added.

“That’s… Felicity is a friend and, and family,” Oliver said.

She shook her head. “You guys just got engaged. That’s a big deal, and people are going to expect you to call her out separately from the rest of us. She’s ‘the woman in your life’”,” she explained, barely resisting air quotes.

“You’re a woman in my life,” he disputed right away. “You’re always gonna be there.”

Thea smiled, more than a little pleased to hear it. “Well, I fall under the ‘family’ category. Then you’ve got Laurel for ‘friend’ — three whole women, that’s pretty rare for a guy.”

Yet rather than laugh or even just roll his eyes at her teasing, Oliver stood, his fingers twitching at his sides.

“Ollie?”

“It’s nothing,” he dismissed. “What else do we need to cover?”

“Well, probably a good story for how the police or federal agency or whatever subdued Darhk since we can’t say you saved us with magic.”

“I almost didn’t.” It was so quiet she barely heard him. “I wouldn’t have without Laurel.”

Thea blinked and shook her head. “What?”

Her brother ran a hand down his face, then turned around to face her. “Every time I’ve managed to use Light Magic, capture that feeling… it’s when she’s there. Helping me.” His eyes were panicked as they darted around. “I thought for a moment when you were all in that tank that I could do it by focusing on you, on- on Felicity. But Thea, you collapsed and it  _ terrified _ me. I didn’t think I could… but Laurel came, and- and—”

“And inspired you again,” Thea guessed. There was a heavy silence in the room. “Ollie, what are you scared of?”

He didn’t answer her for a long moment, and when he did his voice was coated in shame. “That I’m not happy with Felicity.”

Her mouth fell open, and hoarsely she croaked, “You  _ proposed _ to her.”

“I know,” he said, almost right on top of her words. “Because Donna found the ring box. And Felicity wanted to know why I hadn’t, what was holding me— and I did want to, before, in Ivy Town,” he insisted. “I was planning to propose before you and Laurel came to us for help. I… being away with Felicity on that trip, it was like living someone else’s life. And I thought I was happy there. I told myself we could be happy back home, too. But then there’s been all these fights, and we’ve nearly broken up, and she doesn’t—” He stopped for a long beat, struggling to put it to words. “I know she was trying to help me, but nothing she ever said got through to me to activate the Light Magic. Not like—” He swallowed, and it looked painful. “Not like Laurel.”

He came around the desk, taking the spare visitor chair beside her and scooting in to take her hands. “Speedy,  _ tell me _ I’m just making this up. That this is me scaring myself into running from a commitment out of some screwed up sense that it’s going to fall apart.”

She couldn’t find her voice for the longest time, absolutely floored to be hearing all this from him. “Is that what you want me to say.”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t know.

“Ollie, I want you to be happy,” she told him, and hated herself for what had to come next. “But we have staked  _ so much _ of this campaign on your image of a reformed playboy settling down with Felicity. Your proposal was a photo op.” And that didn’t exactly say great things, did it? “She’s funding this whole thing.”

“I know.”

“If you are gonna win this thing, if being mayor is what you really want to do with your public life… you have to see this through.”

His eyes closed, and he drew in a breath. Slowly he nodded. “You’re right.” When he opened his eyes, he was calmer. “I needed to hear that. Thank you.”

“What are sister-campaign-managers for?” She joked, though it sounded weak.

Oliver squeezed her hands and let go, standing back up and going to his desk. “Um, if you can tell Alex I’m gonna need some time to myself.”

“Yeah, of course.” She nodded quickly, standing up as well. She went to the door but turned back. “Ollie.”

“Hm?”

“You’re gonna be okay?”

He nodded, but his eyes looked suspiciously wet. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

Thea went to tell Alex to give her some space, then claimed she had a headache. She went back to the apartment and laid down, hating herself for thinking so much like her mother sometimes.

There was a soft knock on her door, and Thea couldn’t say if it had been minutes or hours. “Speedy?”

A lump rose in her throat. “Come in.”

Laurel entered, carrying a takeaway bag. “Alex told me you weren’t feeling well. I brought you some soup.”

She sat up with a shaky smile. Some people would think it was callous to but it rather than home make it, but Laurel wouldn’t be able to do the latter if she tried, so the sentiment came through all the same. “Thanks.”

Thea dug in, realizing all at once that she was starving. It was later than she thought, especially if Laurel was done with work.

“I’m gonna head back to the base to meet the boys,” Laurel told her. “I’m sure you can take the night off.”

She wasn’t really sick, but Thea didn’t think she could stand to be in the same room as Laurel, Oliver and Felicity. Not just now, not with what she knew.

“Have you ever done something or- or gone along with something,” Thea asked, unable to help herself, “even though it went against everything in your heart?”

Laurel paused in the doorway, hands shoved in her pockets. “I have.”

Thea wanted the floor to swallow her up. Of course Laurel had, she  _ was _ . She’d never said but something in Thea just knew her friend was. “Does it get easier?”

“Everything does with time,” her friend told her. Laurel took a step closer. “Thea, are you okay? Is it about Alex?”

She wanted to laugh. Alex was the furthest thing from her mind right now. “Yeah,” she lied. “But I’ll figure it out. You should go get ready with the others.”

Laurel hovered a moment longer in concern before leaving, and Thea set the bowl and spoon aside before falling back on the mattress.

—

The wedding preparations were upon them sooner than she would’ve thought.

Thea and Laurel were both summoned over to the loft one evening while Oliver was at a dinner with a few shipping magnates who operated out of the port. Alex was acting as aid for that one, leaving her to sit beside Laurel on the couch of her old home while Donna excitedly showed off color swatches and pictures of bouquets.

“It all looks really lovely, Donna,” Laurel said rather diplomatically. Thea personally thought it was a little overdone. “Um, but what exactly did you need my approval on? Thea, I can understand a bit.”

“Oh, didn’t Felicity tell you?” The woman asked.

“Hard to when you won’t let anyone else get a word in, mom,” Felicity said, her voice strained.

“Oh, well she was having trouble deciding between you two. Thea, obviously you’re going to be family, sweetie, but Felicity says she’s known Laurel a little better longer — and who knows? Maybe someday we’ll all be a big, happy family what with your father being such a gentleman!”

“Mom,  _ please _ ,” Felicity groaned, sounding sick. Thea didn’t totally blame her. The idea of Laurel joining their family by becoming a sister-in-law of a sister-in-law was  _ not _ what she had ever imagined. God, mom would be rolling in her grave.

“So I told her, why not just have both of you?”

“Have both of us what?” They all knew it, but Laurel had the patience of a Saint.

“Maids of Honor!” Felicity burst out just as her mother drew a huge breath. “I’m asking you both to be my Maids of Honor.”

Thea and Laurel exchanged shocked looks. It made sense, in a way, she supposed. They were teammates, all in on the same secret. She’d never been all that  _ close _ to Felicity, though, and to find out she was apparently one of Felicity’s two closest friends was strange to say the least. She didn’t know why she had thought there would be someone else, she had just thought there must be.

“I just didn’t really know how to pick between you, and you guys are kind of a package deal anyway, you know?” Felicity continued. “So that’s just sort of what I’m thinking. Is that okay?”

“I mean, yeah,” Thea said.

“It’s your day, Felicity,” Laurel added. “What you say goes.”

“Does, um, does Ollie know about this?” Thea asked, trying not to cringe as her voice went up in pitch uncertainly.

“Oh, he said whatever I wanted was fine,” Felicity answered. “I mean, he doesn’t really have opinions on the color scheme or table arrangements or… anything, really.”

“Typical man,” Donna said with a laugh. “But that just gives us free reign to work with. I’ve been planning my baby’s wedding since she could walk, and soon she’s going to be walking down the aisle!”

Thea smiled uncomfortably as Donna dabbed at her eyes. As a little girl, she’d planned out Oliver’s wedding in her head for fun more than once, only the bride was now the Maid of Honor right next to her.

Once a week, they met with Felicity and Donna to go over different details. Oliver was never present. Donna truthfully did most of the talking, with the occasional input from Felicity. Thea and Laurel both nodded and smiled along. It was decided Laurel and John would be walking in arm-in-arm while Thea was being paired with Barry, the Flash. Felicity had also asked Lyla and a woman from Central named Iris West to be bridesmaids, and that had caused Oliver to extend the honor to Cisco as well. He’d sent a message out to John Constantine, but there was no telling if the man would get it or respond in time, according to him. Thea couldn’t help wishing somehow it could be Roy, instead, especially when her old boyfriend showed back up in town briefly. Hell, in a perfect world, it would be Tommy, and their parents would be there for it, too.

She was reminded of that wish when the subject of dancing came up. “Thea, dear, I was thinking that we could have a brother-sister dance for you and Oliver. I wouldn’t want to step on anyone’s toes — metaphorically, that is.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that,” Thea agreed. “Ollie and I haven’t danced since I was like eight and could stand on his feet, though.

Donna beamed at her. “Oh, you two are so  _ sweet _ !” She shifted her focus. “And Laurel, honey, don’t think I’ve forgotten you.”

“Oh?” Laurel’s eyebrows rose to about her hairline, and Thea felt a lurch of horror. Was the woman about to suggest Laurel and Ollie dance, too?

“Since Thea gets a special dance with her brother, I thought you could have a special song. Your dad mentioned he went to some of your recitals in elementary school.”

Thea whipped towards her friend, the woman she considered like a sister in many ways, and felt absolutely thunderstruck. “ _ Recitals _ ?”

Now Laurel was a bright pink. “Oh, those were — I dropped that in middle school. I’m not good—”

“I bet that’s not true,” Donna sing-songed. “It’ll be fun, and I even know the perfect song. I’ll email you the sheet music, okay? I’ll take care of hiring the band, you just work on learning the tune.”

“Only if you want,” Felicity put in. “Nobody wants you to be uncomfortable—”

“Why would I be uncomfortable?” Laurel asked almost too quickly. She gave herself a little shake and said far more calmly, “I am happy to do my part to make this a special day for my friends. Let me give you my email, Donna.”

It was a relief most nights after these sessions to escape to the base, and Thea couldn’t help thinking Felicity seemed to feel about the same as them. She and Oliver never discussed wedding plans down there or out in the field. She would have assumed based on the way they’d been when they first came back that there’d be constant chatter about it. Okay, she knew why Oliver was secretly less enthused, but usually Felicity could talk enough for the both of them. Maybe she was just overwhelmed with it whenever she was at home with her mother.

There were moments, now and then, when they sparred or when they helped each other in a fight, that Thea could tell Oliver and Laurel were overwhelmed with something, too. The way they had begun communicating again with barely more than a look, the touches that seemed to leave them both affected and retreating to pair off with Thea or John instead. She wondered if either knew what the other was really thinking or if they’d each convinced themselves that it was their imagination. If that was why they’d all ended up in this situation, gearing up for a wedding Thea could only dread.

The engagement party was a small affair closed to the press despite Alex suggesting Oliver and Felicity ought to pose for photos outside first. Laurel had been helping Donna set up but stepped out for something when Thea first arrived with Oliver. Thea might not have noticed her friend’s re-entrance at all if her brother hadn’t sucked in a sharp breath beside her. Thea followed his gaze.

Oh  _ damn _ . Where the hell had Laurel been hiding that dress? It was black and hugged her body, with a slit in the fabric just above her chest and a matching one in the back. She leaned over to set the bags of ice down by the champagne, and Thea could imagine the way that would do things to those interested in the fairer sex.

“Ollie,” she hissed. “Stop staring.”

He jumped and turned to her with remorseful eyes. Thea hated this. She was sure he’d be beating himself up about it later, convincing himself he hadn’t changed from all those years ago, yet  _ she _ was the one who had told him to stay with someone despite not knowing if he was really in love with her. When Felicity came down the steps, Oliver attached himself to her side, clearly doing his part to act the faithful fiancé.

The Central contingency were unable to make it due to ongoing struggles in their own city, so it was basically just them, John and Lyla, and Quentin. They could’ve held this down in the base if not for Donna. Everyone sat around, eating and drinking — club soda in the case of the two Lances. Topics ranged from Oliver’s polling numbers to Baby Sara’s latest developments.

“Oh, babies are so wonderful,” Donna said. “You have to enjoy it while it lasts. Good advice for you two,” she added with a point towards the couple they were here to celebrate.

Oliver managed a genuine smile, but Felicity leapt up suddenly, freezing when all eyes turned on her. “Uh, I would like to- to propose a toast.” Quickly, she snatched for the champagne to refill her empty glass. “And that toast is to, um, is to tonight. This is just a really, really nice moment. I wish we could just stay like this and nothing change, that’s how… perfect it is.”

Thea raised her glass along with the others. “To tonight.”

“How about you, Oliver?” John asked when Felicity sat back down. “Anything you’d like to toast to?”

Her brother stood far slower, seeming to weigh his thoughts. “I will toast to everyone here tonight. Friends, family… my fiancée,” he added, eyes darting to Thea briefly as if checking he’d gotten it right. “You are all so important to me. I know I have done things in the past that have… have hurt some of you. Some more than others.” His eyes found Laurel’s before they dropped to the table again, and he fiddled with the stem of his glass. I promise that I will live every day trying to do what’s right by each of you, in the hopes that we can all be happy together for years to come.”

The party disbanded fairly early. A number of them had day jobs that started in the morning, and John and Lyla had to get back to send their babysitter home. Thea left with Laurel back to their apartment.

“Donna told me they’re eyeing a date about two weeks after the election,” Laurel said into the mirror as she took out her earrings. There was something to her voice, something flat that you’d only notice if you were  _ really _ paying attention. “Oliver doesn’t want to seem too distracted from the race.”

“Yeah. That makes sense.” Thea wondered why he hadn’t mentioned it to her or Alex yet, then wondered if he’d been cornered into picking a date and chose the option furthest-off.

“That’ll be pretty,” Thea offered.

“Mm-hm.”

She felt trapped, like they were all stuck on some kind of railcar or coaster barreling down a track with no brake. She wanted to get off or to scream, but they all had roles to play and they’d missed all the turn-offs. The election was a month away. They couldn’t throw it now by upending Ollie’s whole reputation. No matter how badly or how many of them wanted to.

—

They won. In some ways, she was relieved more than she was joyful. They had won, and that meant the decision she had advised Oliver make, all the pain it was causing people she cared about so much, was worth it. They could make the city better. They could help others, even if they couldn’t help themselves.

Oliver shook Alex’s hand, accepted a kiss on the cheek from his fiancée and wrapped an arm around Thea’s shoulders.

“Thank you, everyone,” he said to the crowd of supporters and staff, a few press dotted among them. “This has been a long few months, but I am happy to say that we are seeing them pay off now. I want to thank each of you for believing in me and in my vision for our city. We finally have a chance to turn things around for our people and our futures.”

There was a great deal of cheering. Reporters started asking questions as well. “Mr. Queen, will the wedding happen before your inauguration?”

“Who can we expect to see in your administration?”

The first question was deftly ignored. “My team and I have been reviewing candidates and are still in that process. But I can tell you there is no doubt in my mind as to the appointment of our next District Attorney. Our current ADA, Dinah Laurel Lance.”

Laurel, out in the crowd with her father, seemed surprised to suddenly find a ton of faces, cameras and microphones turned towards her. Alex made an aborted move to try and tap Oliver’s shoulder, but Thea stamped on his foot.

Oliver moved past them both towards the edge of the podium, extending a hand out. Enough of the crowd parted that Laurel was able to come forward, take Ollie’s hand and climb up onto the platform with him.

“Laurel told me once that she thought we could save this city we both love. At the time, I didn’t believe her. I’m lucky she’s had patience in me, and there’s no one I trust more to keep our administration on the straight and narrow,” Oliver announced.

Cameras flashed as the two hugged, and she thought she saw them whisper to each other. Thea couldn’t make out what, as beside her a device in Felicity’s purse beeped.

“Oh, I need to check something. Be back in a minute.” She snuck off the back of the podium and towards the elevator down to the base.

“Uh, okay,” Thea said, turning back to keep smiling for the cameras.

Her smile felt considerably faker a couple days later when she stood in front of a mirror so the tailor could make final adjustments to her bridesmaid’s dress. Laurel had already been fitted yesterday, on a train to Central for a one-day conference on metahumans and the law. Her friend seemed determined to throw herself into the role of DA, and Thea couldn’t help worrying it was a coping mechanism.

Donna cooed over her appearance, then squealed when Felicity emerged in her white dress.

“Calm down, mom, seriously,” Felicity said, and she adjusted the way it sat irritably.

“You look like a princess, baby!”

“Well, I am marrying a Queen,” Felicity joked, and it fell totally flat. Thea was grateful when the other woman’s phone rang. “Hello? Cisco, calm down, I can’t make out— Barry’s  _ what _ ? Laurel? How long has she been out?”

“Wait, what’s happening?” Thea stepped down off the footstool and dragged Felicity away from the seamstresses and her mother.

“There was an accident at the Labs. They think Barry’s  _ dead _ ,” Felicity blurted I’m not-quite-a-whisper. “Laurel was there, and she’s not waking up, they have no idea what happened—”

“They hurt her? Felicity, make up something for your mom, I’ll call Ollie.”

She rushed to change out of the dress and raced down to the train station while calling her brother.

_ “Thea, how’s it going?” _

“Not great since half our wedding party decided to get blown up or something.”

_ “What?” _

“Cisco called Felicity. Something went wrong at the Labs. Barry’s… not good. Laurel was there on her trip, too, and they- they don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

_ “I’ll get my keys.” _

“No! You have your inauguration in two days and a wedding in less than a week! I’ll go, call you with updates. I just needed to tell you first to keep you from doing something like this.”

_ “Thea, I can’t just— I have to know she’s okay.” _

“I know. But trust me,” she said, pausing at the top of the steps down into the station to avoid dropping the call. “This is what family is for, to be there for you when you can’t be.”

His voice was anguished on the other end.  _ “I made a mistake.” _

“I know,” she murmured, her heart breaking for him. “I’m sorry.” She hung up and went down to purchase her train ticket.

The mood in Central City was far more somber than it had been in December. Her fellow bridesmaid Iris had tear tracks running down both cheeks, and Cisco didn’t even muster a smile. She didn’t see Caitlin anywhere.

An older man with Barry’s features and shaking hands led her to a small room where Laurel lay in a hospital bed. Thea sat and took her friend’s hand, willing her to wake up.

“We’re not sure if she’s in any pain. We didn’t want to start her on anything until we knew.”

“Don’t. She’s sober.”

The older man ducked his head. “Understood. Then we’ll wait and hope for the best. It sounds like she’s a fighter.”

“You bet she is.” Thea was left alone, and she squeezed Laurel’s hand tight between her own. “Come on, Laurel. Ollie and I still need you. The city, too. We love you. I wish you could hear it from him.”

It was a day before there was any sign of change, a long day of waiting and fielding Oliver’s increasingly frantic phone calls. Laurel’s fingers twitched, her breathing patterns changed, there was activity beneath her eyelids. But she slept on.

The morning of the inauguration, she woke. “...Speedy?”

Her voice sounded scratchy, whether that was from disuse or what, Thea wasn’t sure. She didn’t care either, quickly throwing herself on Laurel in a hug. “Thank God!”

She did her best to relay everything that had happened, including that the others in this lab appeared to be trying to locate Barry in some other plane of reality. When she reached the part about the time that had passed, Laurel gasped. “The inauguration.”

“I know, it’s in a few hours.”

“We need to get on a train,” Laurel rasped, staggering out of bed.

“Laurel, slow down! You just recovered from, from who-knows-what, we don’t have to go anywhere until you’re ready.”

“I am ready,” her friend insisted, stubborn as ever. “Ollie needs you to be there for him.”

Thea sighed. “No, he doesn’t.” At Laurel’s sharp look, she amended, “He needs us.”

They stopped by Laurel’s hotel to grab her things and officially check her out, then hightailed it to the station. Thea called Oliver, but Alex picked up instead.

_ “He wouldn’t stop checking for messages from you. I had to confiscate his phone so he’d focus on his speech.” _

“Just tell him we’re on our way.”

_ “Can you bring Felicity with you when you get here? She keeps ducking out to make phone calls or something.” _

“One miracle at a time, Alex.”

They barely made the ceremony. Oliver was pacing off the main hall while Alex stood near the wings, gesturing impatiently at him. Yet his whole face lit up when Thea and Laurel rushed in. He crushed Laurel to him in a hug, one hand cupping the back of her head.

“You’re okay. What happened?”

“Don’t know.” She pulled back, doing her best to smooth down his now-rumpled tie. “You know your speech?”

He shook his head. “I’ll have to wing it.”

Laurel tsked, but it lacked any bite. “Knock ‘em dead.”

“I will.”

“Oliver, it’s time,” Alex declared, and with a quick, grateful kiss to Thea’s cheek, her brother strode past the campaign manager out to the stage.

Thea and Laurel had to watch from the wings that whole night. Neither were dressed for such a function, being in jeans and short-sleeves for traveling. They noticed Felicity join Oliver out on the main floor when everyone started to mingle, the two standing a good foot apart as they talked with this or that person of importance.

“Does anyone else have a bad feeling?”

Thea and Laurel both jumped, turning and finding John behind them in a suit of his own.

“How so?” Laurel asked.

He shook his head. “Hard to say. I thought everything was fine after that fight they had about Palmer, but…”

Thea raised an eyebrow. If John was giving voice to this kind of worry, that was saying something.

“We’ll have to make sure everything’s as perfect as can be for the wedding,” their friend decided. “Get them out of their heads a bit so they’ll be happy again.”

“Yeah,” Thea agreed reluctantly. The wedding that was now only in a few days.

They were so screwed.

—

The bachelorette and bachelor parties were cancelled due to the Central team’s effforts to bring Barry back taking up their time. The rehearsal dinner was nearly cancelled when, while they were trying to rehearse walking into the venue, her escort was half an hour late despite being alive again and supposedly faster than ever before.

“Sorry, sorry,” Barry apologized as he took her arm in his. He lowered his voice. “Had to do an extra couple sweeps to make sure Zoom didn’t have anything set up.”

“This better not happen tomorrow,” she told him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. I’m glad to finally see Oliver and Felicity, uh, happy…” He trailed off, and Thea followed his puzzled gaze to the front of the room, where Oliver and Felicity stood impassively listening to the officiant. The speedster beside her shrugged. “Must be nerves.”

Thea chuckled weakly in agreement.

To be fair to Barry, Lyla’s escort hadn’t even shown. According to Oliver, Constantine was currently in Hell and wouldn’t be able to make it. Lyla was taking it with pretty good grace and just opting to join the attendants in the chairs tomorrow with Baby Sara. Thea couldn’t help thinking that the cracks were maybe starting to show a little too much on this facade, but what else could they do? For Oliver to back out now would be cruel to Felicity, might even look like he had only used her for campaign money when that wasn’t the case.

They got through the blocking and soon enough it was time for dinner. More guests than the wedding party were invited to dinner. Caitlin had arrived with Barry, Cisco and Iris, after all. Mari McCabe, aka Vixen from Detroit had been invited. Alex was here, a couple more aides, some people from Palmer Tech, Jean their family lawyer and Jessica Danforth, Walter, John’s brother Andy and, most surprisingly, Sara and Ray Palmer stood by a table talking to Captain Lance and Donna.

“We should greet people,” Felicity said. “It might be easier to split it? You take that half?”

“Sure,” Oliver agreed, and the pair walked off in separate directions.

Thea decided to make her way over to the two time travelers. “Hey guys, long time no see.”

“Oh, well, Felicity’s been keeping us updated about everything back home,” Ray said. “And our business abroad just so happened to have just concluded.”

“It’s so nice of you to show your support,” Donna told the man. “And lovely to meet you, Sara. Quentin, we need to find your other daughter. Laurel’s got to practice the song with the band.”

“Uh, right,” Lance agreed, letting himself be pulled along by his date.

“You guys timed getting home pretty good for this,” Thea remarked.

Sara shrugged. “I’m here for Laurel. And as a friend, but… well, I must have missed a hell of a lot when I was dead.”

“I’m here because Felicity invited me,” Ray stated.

Thea stared. “Felicity invited you to her wedding.”

Ray had the grace to look sheepish. “She mentioned it in passing during one of our calls — I’ve been giving her advice about running the company — and I think she didn’t exactly know what to say other than invite me. I didn’t really know what to say other than accept. I’m glad she’s happy,” he insisted. “I wouldn’t want to make things awkward or strained between us.”

“Right,” Thea said, privately thinking Ray shouldn’t have worried; things were about as awakened and strained as they could get around here.

Sure enough, when Felicity reached their group in her circuit of the room, she looked especially nervous. “Ray, you made it! I thought maybe you’d be busy.”

“We managed to wrap things up in time. Time’s rather relative these days,” he replied. He smiled, but it seemed less bright than the typical Ray Palmer megawatt grin. “But, congratulations.”

“Oh, right. Thank you. Yeah, it’s, um, hard to believe it’s almost here.” Felicity’s gaze had landed on the ground, but she quickly moved to hug Sara. “Thanks for coming.”

“Don’t mention it. Where’s Ollie?”

“Greeting some other people. We thought it’d be quicker—”

“Actually, I’m right here and I’ve got our missing groomsman,” Oliver said, approaching from Thea’s left with Constantine in tow. She should have realized the growing scent of cigarettes wasn’t just her imagination.

“Sorry I’m late, the Devil’s not exactly one for a schedule,” the man said. “Afraid I wasn’t able to stop off for a gift first, either.”

“Oh, that’s okay. Glad you made it,” Felicity told him.

“I was tempted to say I couldn’t, really. Not much for weddings,” Constantine admitted. “But, I reckon if you’re the one who helped Oliver to harness the Light of the Soul and defeat Darhk, you’ve probably got a decent shot at this marriage.”

Felicity laughed, though it sounded forced, and Oliver pressed his lips together. Neither confirmed what Constantine had just assumed.

“Felicity! Oliver!” Donna called over by the small stage where a band was setting up. Laurel was on the stage, too, twisting one of the rings on her fingers as a mic was placed in front of her.

“Well, duty calls,” Felicity said, then made her way across the floor. Oliver followed in her wake. Constantine shrugged and ambled off, removing another cigarette from a pack in his pocket.

Ray watched Felicity go, his smile dimming. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said to Thea and Sara, then made his way around the perimeter of the room out of sight.

“Why does this feel more Twilight Zone than anything I just saw past, present or future?” Sara asked in a low tone.

“Been wondering the same,” Thea muttered back.

It was clear Donna was asking the engaged pair to do a test run with the song. Oliver and Felicity both seemed reluctant, but eventually were nudged out into the middle of the floor. Had they ever danced together before, Thea wondered. Had they practiced?

The chatter around the room died down as the band warmed up a little, then began to play. Laurel turned away from the mic to clear her throat — she’d been doing that a lot ever since that weird lab accident — then began to sing with her eyes shut.

_ “Love me tender, love me sweet. Never let me go.You have made my life complete, and I love you so.” _

Thea felt her mouth drop open. Elementary recitals, her  _ ass _ . Laurel’s voice was amazing. A little quiet, maybe, but it grew as Oliver and Felicity slowly turned on the spot, their movements as stiff as Laurel’s voice was smooth.

_ “Love me tender, love me true. All my dreams fulfill. For, my darling I love you, and I always will.” _

Thea felt tears prick the corners of her eyes while on stage Laurel opened hers. Her eyes landed on the couple, on Ollie. And unmistakably, he was gazing back, over the top of Felicity’s head.

_ “Love me tender, love me dear. Tell me you are mine. I'll be yours through all the years,” _ Laurel promised. She could see the lump in her friend’s throat from here.  _ “'Till the end of time. Love me tender, love me true. All my dreams fulfill. For, my darling…” _

Laurel trailed off. Thea wasn’t sure if her voice had failed her or if she was just as confused as the rest of the onlookers when Oliver and Felicity stopped moving.

The couple looked at each other. Then, abruptly, Felicity wrenched away, fleeing out the nearest side door. Oliver watched in stunned silence for a moment and looked back up at Laurel who looked totally lost for a moment. She managed to incline her head in the direction his fiancée had fled, and Oliver hesitated a moment longer before taking off in a sprint. The minute his back had turned, Laurel pressed a hand over her mouth, eyes watery.

“Shit,” Sara hissed.

“You take Laurel, I’m gonna figure out— whatever the hell that was,” Thea decided, hiking up her skirt to follow her brother and Felicity, paying no attention to the shocked murmurs and exclamations springing up all around the room.

She found them down the hall and around a corner. Felicity had sat down on a windowsill with her head in her hands while Ollie stood several feet back. Thea hovered just beyond view.

“Felicity?”

“I- I can’t do this. I can’t believe I can’t do this. It’s what I wanted, what I said I wanted…”

Oliver took a single step closer. “You mean the wedding?”

“The wedding, the this, us, whatever you want to call it.” Felicity looked up, tear tracks running down her cheeks. “Have either of us actually been happy since we came back from Ivy Town?”

The silence was almost deafening.

For some reason, this drew a short laugh from the bride-to-be. “So it wasn’t just me. That’s a relief.” She looked away. “I thought for sure when mom found the ring that it would be over—”

“Then why did you ask me about proposing?”

“I thought you’d say you’d changed your mind or you weren’t ready! Something to, to give me an out! Not propose to me in front of a huge crowd of your supporters,” Felicity exclaimed, standing. “I couldn’t just— I needed an out. Some kind of reason beyond me just realizing this wasn’t what I thought it’d be. I mean, we have  _ nothing _ in common besides the nighttime stuff. And I don’t mean sex.”

“I know you don’t.”

“We don’t share any interests, you do not get my issues with family, and I don’t get your total devotion to family and… I  _ wasn’t _ the one that helped you figure out how to counter Darhk’s magic. I know I wasn’t.”

“No,” Oliver agreed quietly.

“But I threw away such a good thing to be with you,” Felicity continued. “I’d built it up in my head as the perfect relationship, when all it was, was a fantasy. And reality didn’t hold up. The reality is that I let a good thing go, and now I’m stuck.”

Thea couldn’t see Oliver’s face from where she was hiding, but she saw him shake his head. “No, you’re not. You might have been, but we don’t have to do that to each other. I have lived my whole life putting on an act for other people. I’m not gonna force you to put on an act with me, no matter what people say. They can vote me out next term if they want, that’s their right. But we both have the right to be true to ourselves.”

He walked forward, taking Felicity’s left hand in his, and slowly drew their mother’s engagement ring off her finger. Felicity’s shoulders slumped in relief, and she let out a sniffle.

“Take it from someone who  _ has _ run from a good thing. The farther you go, the harder it is to find your way back. So if Ray’s worth it, do  _ not _ stop running after him.”

Felicity looked up into Oliver’s eyes and nodded. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she turned and jogged off down the hall, her footsteps somehow lighter than before.

Ollie stood there a moment, then hung his head with a relieved sight of his own. Thea stepped around the corner.

“So, turns out I may have had  _ totally _ the wrong idea about all of this.”

He turned around to face her slowly.

“Ollie, I’m so sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for,” he told her. “Felicity and I, we were both convinced it had to be that way. I’m just glad we didn’t do something we’d both regret.”

“Me too.” She hugged him, and he slumped in her hold somewhat, though he seemed to take care not to totally crush her with his weight. Thea wouldn’t have cared if he had.

She wasn’t sure how long they stood there, but eventually she said, “We are gonna have to go tell the guests.”

He grumbled something into the top of her head.

“I’ll help you,” she promised, poking him in the side. Unfortunately, he decided to tickle her back. Thea wrenched out of his grasp and punched him on the arm. That pulled a bark of a laugh out of her brother, and he looked a little less weary to be heading back into the thick of things. They turned and headed back to face it together.

—

It was the talk of the town for at least two weeks, the collapse of their new mayor’s engagement the night before the wedding. There was all kinds of speculation both on the news and in the tabloids, especially since Felicity Smoak practically disappeared off the map. A representative had been appointed to the role of CEO at Palmer Tech, and the company seemed to be doing well enough. They weren’t giving monetary contributions to the mayor anymore, which was just fine since Ollie didn’t really want to be beholden to something like big business anyway.

Her brother ignored the press the way he’d been raised to and simply moved forward with the ideas they had drafted together during the campaign. Thea couldn’t help wondering from time to time if their mother would be proud to see her children taking on the job she had very nearly won for herself before Slade Wilson had robbed her of it and them of her.

Down in the base, things were considerably more tense. John seemed totally thunderstruck to see Oliver and Felicity part ways, and especially that Felicity had done the leaving. Laurel, meanwhile, seemed absolutely terrified to be left alone with either John or Oliver, sticking to Thea like a second skin. Back at the apartment, she would fill the evenings with chatter about her coworkers or claim there was work she needed to catch up on and take it to her room, leaving no time for them to talk about the rehearsal dinner. She had a feeling her friend was blaming herself for how things had so abruptly ended and assumed that everyone else was blaming her, too. And yeah, maybe hearing the love in Laurel’s song had caused Felicity to realize it was lacking in her own relationship to Thea’s brother, but if anything that had probably been a good thing. It had saved Ollie from continuing the Queen family tradition of loveless marriages.

It wasn’t really her place to tell Laurel how Oliver really felt, the same way it hadn’t been her place to tell Oliver how Laurel really felt all this time. Thea was starting to get fed up, however, and decided it was time to think less like her secretive, cautious parents and more like herself.

About a month after the media storm surrounding her brother’s breakup calmed down, Thea put a dinner at the Cavalli on his schedule. Then she texted Laurel that they were doing a girl’s night together at the Cavalli to live it up a little. Thea made sure to get there first before either of them.

She watched from inside the lobby as Laurel parked and got out of her car. Before she’d taken two steps, another car pulled up, letting Oliver out before pulling away. The two spotted each other on the sidewalk, staring in confusion for a moment before Oliver gestured towards the door. He held it open for Laurel, and as they entered Thea caught him saying, “That’s a little odd. Thea told  _ me _ to be here.”

She bit the inside of her cheek as they both saw her and headed over. If she wasn’t mistaken, Oliver still had a hand at the small of Laurel’s back.

“Speedy?” Laurel asked.

“Hey, guys! Glad you made it. I’m pretty sure…”

“Queen, party of two,” the hostess called.

“There it is,” Thea said. “Well, you two have fun.”

“Hold on,” her brother said, catching her arm before she could head for the door. “What’s this?”

“Well, it’s like you told your ex at the rehearsal dinner,” she explained. “The longer you let a good thing go, the harder it is to get back to them. So, here you both are, same place same time, having dinner together.”

“Dinner… at the Cavalli,” Laurel said, and for some reason, she and Oliver exchanged a funny sort of look.

“Yeah. Your move now. You can thank me later.” Thea went to the door, catching herself on the handle. “I won’t wait up.”

“Queen, party of two,” the hostess called again, interrupting whatever her brother had been about to say. Laurel ducked her head, clearly trying to hide a laugh, and with one half-uncertain, half-hopeful look at each other, the two headed to the hostess’s podium.

Thea grinned to herself and headed out into the summer evening. It felt like old times again — but the times when they’d all been happy.


End file.
